Animal-World > Freshwater Fish > Puffers - Pufferfish

Puffers ~ Pufferfish

Family: Tetraodontidae Fahaka Puffer Tetraodon Lineatus Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy Ken Childs

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to access information on each type of Pufferfish.

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   With their comical chubby appearance, Puffers are some of the most unique and 'cute' looking fish in the aquarium hobby!

   Though adorable looking fish that can win your affection, the Puffers or Pufferfish are not a fish for the novice. They require special care and feeding. They are considered hardy only in the sense that they will almost always adapt to aquarium foods and are long lived in a premium environment.

  To successfully keep Puffers or Pufferfish means maintaining top water quality, providing plenty of room, and most importantly providing an adequate diet. They love to eat and look forward to seeing the person that feeds them like a puppy waiting for their owner to get home! Even though they seldom starve in an aquarium, they have special needs that you should be aware of in order to keep them healthy.

See more information on Puffers below:
Description and Care & Feeding:

   The Puffers or Pufferfish belonging to the Tetraodontidae family. The majority of the puffers are a marine fish and are found in most of the tropical oceans of the world. There are only a few freshwater or brackish species of puffers, less than 40 of approximately 150 species.

   To learn about the Saltwater Puffers see Marine Puffers.

Puffers - Pufferfish
Amazon Puffer	Fahaka Puffer
Colomesus asellus	Tetraodon lineatus
Golden Puffer	Malabar Puffer
Auriglobus modestus	Carinotetraodon travancoricus
Pignose Puffer	Spotted Green Pufferfish
Tetraodon suvattii	Tetraodon nigroviridis

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Description:
   The Puffers or Pufferfish are rather club shaped, having a large round body covered with spines (though they are not always apparent), and fins sticking out. They have large heads with widely spaced, often mobile eyes. They have no scales, the gills are soft openings located close to the pectoral fins, and there are four fused teeth in the jaw. Puffers generally move awkwardly using their pectoral fins for locomotion and the tail fin only when they need to move quickly, as in the case of an emergency or newly arrived food.
   As their name implies, Pufferfish have the ability to 'puff' themselves up with water or air if threatened. When they inflate, their spines protrude outward and this apparently helps keep them from being eaten. Another defense of many puffer species is to produce toxic substances in their flesh that is poisonous if eaten. There are usually several deaths reported in Japan each year from eating puffers which are not prepared properly.
   The Pufferfish can be quite long lived in the aquarium, many living for 10 or more years. They range in size reaching from about 1" (2.54 cm) to over 24" (61 cm), though some of the marine species can reach close to 48" (122 cm).

Care and feeding:
   Since puffers do not have gill covers or scales, they are thought to be more susceptible to diseases, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia levels. Consequently they are not a good fish to cycle an aquarium with. Also because they usually don't eat all of their food (messy eaters!), these fish will usually put more load on the aquarium filtration requiring more frequent water changes and better maintenance in general. A 50% weekly water change is the standard recommendation for a puffer aquarium.
   In the wild Puffers or Pufferfish are predators eating a variety of snails, shellfish, crustaceans, and other fish. In captivity they will eat almost everything that is offered and should be fed a variety of live, frozen and freeze dried meaty foods. Though puffers are fun to feed and will become quite adept at 'begging' for tidbits from their keepers, keep in mind how often to feed and the resultant load on the aquarium. Feed small puffers (under 2") daily, mid sized puffers (2 - 4") every other day, and large puffers (those over 4") can be fed just two or three times a week.
   As and interesting note, many puffers in the wild will blow or 'spit' at the substrate to uncover hidden crustaceans or other foods. In an aquarium some keepers have experienced their puffer spitting water at them from the surface of the water in an attempt to earn some tidbits of food! Be careful not to be fooled into overfeeding them.
   Puffers have strong teeth that grow throughout their lives. They need to be offered hard shelled live food often to keep their teeth worn down. Acceptable foods include shellfish, crustaceans and hard shelled foods such as snails. If the teeth get too long, they will be unable to eat, requiring the owner to clip the teeth.

   Pufferfish need plenty of room to maintain water quality and they will most likely need to be kept singly. The temperament of these fish can vary greatly from one puffer to another, not only between species but often within a single species as well. These fish are predators and can be aggressive. For tank mates too large to eat in one bite, puffers can be extreme fin nippers. Sometime juveniles will be reported as good community fish, only to turn aggressive upon maturity. A single specimen tank is the safest route, and extreme caution should be taken when choosing tank mates at any time.

For more Information on keeping freshwater fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

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